Observe a laboratory activity or base your answer on past visits. How does your CT conduct a typical laboratory activity? How does he or she open the activity and organize student groups? How do students learn what they're expected to do during the period? Reflect on your reading about inquiry and your experience with the NECAP inquiry task. How did the laboratory activity you observe prepare students for the type of activities that might show up on the NECAP in the future? What inquiry elements would you strengthen? What science practices do you want to stress when you're teaching?
OBSERVATION:
My MS CT uses her typical small groups for labs. She generally opens the task with a warmup that gets the students' mindset on the task at hand. I have seen her pose a question regarding the material of the lab as well as directing students to structure their lab notebook. Sometimes she has them simply formulate a hypothesis and identify the variables for the lab. Students learn what they're expected from one of two ways. Earlier in the year, Ms. F covered how the students would record labs in their lab notebooks; she covered the layout as well as the components of each section. This allows her to not have to worry about reteaching it each time as the students have a standard layout to follow. When students question how to write the lab, Ms. F simply directs them to their layout. One lab Ms. F ended up going through the instructions and idea of the lab in a lecture style utilizing the chalk board to demonstrate how she wanted the data to be tracked in a specific graphic organizer. In another lab that Ms. F had me prepare, Ms. F ended up having the students review the lab instructions the class before and fill out their notebook in preparation as the lab practices were going to be a bit more time consuming. This allowed the students to be prepared for the lab portion and required less direct instruction and more a review of why and how they were going to do the lab. It also allowed us to get through the lengthy lab portion without a hitch or timing issue.
REFLECTION:
The labs lined up with the NECAP inquiry tasks as they required students to speculate upon different variables and did require some data analysis. The lab focused on plant growth and the differences in soils. The students would eventually record the growth over a period of time in a graphic organizer, eventually graph the data, and from there analyze the data and see how valid their original hypotheses were. From the data and lectures, the students would be able to support their original hypotheses and adjust. The students would also have to consider human error and how it may have affected plant growth (or lack there of). The plants that grew successfully will be used in later labs for further plant exploration such as budding/flowers and cross pollination. To make this lab more relative to a NECAP task it may need to have additional statistical and data analysis. That seems to be a major requirement of the NECAP as well as data synthesis. I am not sure how much of a push there would be as this was 6th grade, but maybe introducing another data source such as growth in rocky soil and then having to compare and analyze might be closer to what NECAP is about. When I am teaching, I would like to stress the more exploration and hands on aspect of science. This is why when I got the opportunity to do my lab in this class I ended up making sure the students did the planting of the plants as well as giving them an opportunity to feel the soil vs sandy soil so that the students had that experience. I also felt the action of getting one's hands dirty was a good thing for the students to experience.
OBSERVATION:
My MS CT uses her typical small groups for labs. She generally opens the task with a warmup that gets the students' mindset on the task at hand. I have seen her pose a question regarding the material of the lab as well as directing students to structure their lab notebook. Sometimes she has them simply formulate a hypothesis and identify the variables for the lab. Students learn what they're expected from one of two ways. Earlier in the year, Ms. F covered how the students would record labs in their lab notebooks; she covered the layout as well as the components of each section. This allows her to not have to worry about reteaching it each time as the students have a standard layout to follow. When students question how to write the lab, Ms. F simply directs them to their layout. One lab Ms. F ended up going through the instructions and idea of the lab in a lecture style utilizing the chalk board to demonstrate how she wanted the data to be tracked in a specific graphic organizer. In another lab that Ms. F had me prepare, Ms. F ended up having the students review the lab instructions the class before and fill out their notebook in preparation as the lab practices were going to be a bit more time consuming. This allowed the students to be prepared for the lab portion and required less direct instruction and more a review of why and how they were going to do the lab. It also allowed us to get through the lengthy lab portion without a hitch or timing issue.
REFLECTION:
The labs lined up with the NECAP inquiry tasks as they required students to speculate upon different variables and did require some data analysis. The lab focused on plant growth and the differences in soils. The students would eventually record the growth over a period of time in a graphic organizer, eventually graph the data, and from there analyze the data and see how valid their original hypotheses were. From the data and lectures, the students would be able to support their original hypotheses and adjust. The students would also have to consider human error and how it may have affected plant growth (or lack there of). The plants that grew successfully will be used in later labs for further plant exploration such as budding/flowers and cross pollination. To make this lab more relative to a NECAP task it may need to have additional statistical and data analysis. That seems to be a major requirement of the NECAP as well as data synthesis. I am not sure how much of a push there would be as this was 6th grade, but maybe introducing another data source such as growth in rocky soil and then having to compare and analyze might be closer to what NECAP is about. When I am teaching, I would like to stress the more exploration and hands on aspect of science. This is why when I got the opportunity to do my lab in this class I ended up making sure the students did the planting of the plants as well as giving them an opportunity to feel the soil vs sandy soil so that the students had that experience. I also felt the action of getting one's hands dirty was a good thing for the students to experience.